The present invention relates generally to the field of data backup systems, and more particularly to backup and recovery of data in virtual machine environments.
Backup and recovery systems are often designed and implemented according to one or more recovery point objectives (RPOs). An RPO is a maximum amount of data loss, measured in time, which a system designer is willing to tolerate if a data loss event should occur. For example, to meet an RPO of one hour, backups must be performed at a minimum interval of one hour. Where continuity of service and the ability to recover critical data are especially high, RPOs may approach near-zero, meaning that the backup and recovery system is implemented such that backups are taken so frequently that in the event of system failure, nearly no data would be lost.
Virtual machines are software-based emulations of computer systems. In the context of backup and recovery systems, virtual machines can provide efficiencies and cost savings because of their hardware-agnostic nature and for providing system administrators with the ability to deploy, operate, and manage multiple instances of virtual machines in a centralized fashion.